94% of pickpockets in Delhi Metro are women

If you are travelling in Delhi Metro, beware of suspicious female commuters as almost 94% of pickpockets held in the rapid transport system of the national capital region this year belong to the fair sex.

Figures calculated for the first three months (January- March) of 2014 by CISF, the nodal security agency for the Delhi Metro, show that out of the total 126 pickpockets held, 118 were women.

"The women pickpockets have an intelligent modus operandi. They either carry a young child with them or mingle in the crowd so well that their intentions become undoubtful. They largely target women passengers," a senior official said.

Officials securing the 134 Metro stations in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad, however, say that commuters on the rapid rail service should be vigilant about their belongings and also about the activities taking place around them in the coach and in the platform area.

The abundance of women pickpockets have been a subject of challenge for security agencies in the Metro network including the CISF as the figures for the last year also depict a similar picture.

Last year, out of the total 466 pickpockets held across various places in the Delhi metro, 421 were women while the rest 45 were male. Women constituted about 90.34 per cent of the pickpockets in the network, considered the life line of NCR's public transport system.

Both the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and local police force units, sources said, have launched special drives to identify and nab pickpockets with special focus on women.

Women officials of the CISF are being deployed in civil clothes to keep a check on the women who try to secretly whisk away valuables and cash of passengers in the Metro, the official said.

During January this year, the CISF also de-boarded 586 men from the Metro coaches exclusively meant for women.

Besides, 56 people were apprehended by the force so far this this year for the offence of walking on Metro tracks.

Seven instances of illegal arms being seized at the Metro entrance were also reported in the first three months of this year by the security force which has deployed close to 5,000 men and women to secure the network against any sabotage activity and security related threats.